Okay, made a lil sale of our old car and had some money to spare so we went to the LFS. I was almost prepared to get everything I needed for our 55 gallon tall tank but then the numbers started hitting me.

lighting-200.00+ I wanted LED's he said I shouldn't get them... are they bad or something? I want to grow plant so..

substrate-4 bags, I asked about doing a peat moss or whatever bottom and sand on top he said it was too messy and I shouldn't do it.

Then one guy is telling me to buy a lid, another telling me not to. I am so freakin confused!

Also, I thought maybe I could get light online and I found this


Odyssea T5 Aquarium Lighting

Has anyone ever had this brand of lights? Good, bad or otherwise? Is Aqua Traders good or not?

Thank you in advance!

Shop on craigslist for most of what you need (tank/lights/lids). That will lessen the blow on the $$$.

I've never dealt with peat moss, but I can say go to your local pool supply store and get 50lbs of Pool Filter Sand for $10 or less for your substrate if you want sand.

Getting a lid is all preference. I've done no-lid, and while it does have that "cool" factor , it does limit some fish you can buy (limited to non-jumpers).

I don't think there's much known about LED effects on plants. If you really want to go with a heavily planted tank Iwould just go T5. Yah, they can be expensive, but they're worth it. But make sure you have the right levels b/c you may get into a situation where you need co2, or else you'll have algae everywhere.

Hope that helped a little. I'm still learning ....and while this forum is extremely helpful, most of it is lessons learned the hard way :-)

Man I hear that! lol

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10g- 2 hi-fin fm platys, 3 koi & red wag sword fry
40g Breeder- 6 danios, 4 female swords, 1 male swords
"I was born with nothin and I still got most of it left."- Seasick Steve

I can agree to that, lessons learned the hard way! LOL The guy said I needed a certain kind of sand and it didn't even turn out to be sand. It was chunky, which I didn't want.. But he said that other sands don't hold nutrients or are made of coral, which I guess is also bad?

I can't chime in on much, however I have play sand and it seems to be working quite well! The lid is your preference, and as for hte light, I have a shop light with GE aquarium bulbs, the whole shebang cost about 30 bucks. Plants are growing well and look great to me! i'm sure you can go more high tech, if YOU want to, but you can also go cheaper and still do well with it. That's all in what your preference is and what your goals are for your tank!

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"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

Anyone know about that light that I posted? Does it look like a good deal? Or too good to be true? Summer, I plan on making this a nice looking tank but hopefully for cheap. LOL If that is even possible.

And Bmoore, I forgot to add, I usually do stalk Craigslist, that's where I got the tank, which was free... but I kind of wanted new lights for some reason.

Bee the light is fine but you don't need the actinic bulb. That is for salt water. Going high light you will need to also add pressurized co2 and that will be another expense. LED's are good, but then again they are high dollar and would require co2.

If you or your husband can build a hood for the tank, you can mount 2 48 inch shoplight fixtures, use the 6700k bulbs and would be able to grow most plants. I use them on all of my tanks.

Peat moss is fine in the tank, then top with pool filter sand. The only problem it can give you is if you tend to move plants a lot and it will get messy. I use pfs in most of my tanks and plants grow fine. Just if you have sword plants or other heavy root feeders you need to add plant tab under the sand next to them. You will also need to get some liquid ferts and dose once a week. For a 55 gal tank it would take one bag and they run 6 to 10 dollars a bag.

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SUCCESS IS MEASURED BY YEARS, NOT MONTHS!!!
220 Tank build
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/sta...late-3253.html

Rule #1....don't listen to anyone in your local stores. Most of their experience is limited to what they have done in the store and out of all the ones I have talked with while they are netting my fish, only one has had any tank eperience.

If you dont use a top on your tank you will get a lot of evaporation, but like was said, your choice. My glass tops slow the evap down to about 1/2.

If you decide to buy from Craigslist make sure the tank holds water and is not cracked. I have gotten tanks off CL before with great luck.
I was actually considering buying an Odyssey light when I first started my tank and decided to go with a Hagen Glo light instead after reading a lot of reviews, and coming to the conclusion that sometimes price does matter. As far as substrate goes I have Pool Filter Sand (PFS to most) and am happy I did. it is a tenth the cost (50lbs. for $10) and I think it looks better. I have a hood on my tank for several reasons, it is quieter, fish don't jump out, evaporation is next to nothing, it helps protect my lights from getting "crusty", and I like to pile up all the crap I don't want my son getting to on the top of it.

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75 Gallon Planted

Thanks guys! This is really helpful!

One of my favorite days is when I found the "shop light." No more spending $100 or more on a light. Like Susan said, just goto home depot and spend $30 for the whole sha-bang. Really brings the costs down.

On another note, I have a freshwater tank and I use an actinic light. Most people here will say that you don't need it, or that it may cause algae...and that may be the case. But in my experience, it gives it a great look if you combine it with white lights as well..and I've never had an algae problem.

Hmmm, interesting, thanks! I think we will check out shop lights... but I'm not sure what we could rig up. It will be in my daughter's room, so that kind of scares me. Guess I got a lot to think about lol.

Bee,

The T5 fixture looks good, except for the actinic bulb. Actinics are built for coral reefs and don't do any good in a freshwater tank. With that being said, I would say to buy the fixture and also buy a nice freshwater plant bulb, something like a 5500K or something like that, then sell the actinic on Craigslist for cheap. I swear by T5, however one day when I've made my million I will have LED fixtures. Your LFS clerk was probably steering you away from LEDs because of their cost and his or her lack of understanding as to their true effectiveness at growing plants (even I'm a little skeptical of them).

Lids are great to prevent evaporation and stop jumpers from getting out of the tank, but they reduce the effectiveness of your light fixture and they aren't as aesthetically pleasing as an open-top tank. I use them just because I find topping off my tanks halfway through the week due to evaporation is a pain, and even with the lids on I still get jumpers from time to time.

Peat moss is great in a planted tank because it is chemically inert, so aside from potentially making your tank messy it will not screw with the chemical composition of the water. What peat moss is great for is lowering the pH of your water. If the water out of your tap is basic like mine is (pH of 7.6 and higher), peat moss will make it more acidic, which is what some fish like neon tetras prefer. Many people will put a bottom layer of peat moss in the tank and plant plants over it, others will fill a mesh filter bag with peat moss and stick it in their filter. Both methods have the same effect.

As many have stated, pool filter sand is great and cheap as a substrate because plants love to sink their roots into sand, but might need a little extra nutrient supplementation like root tabs. The stuff the LFS clerk was trying to sell you is aquarium-specific plant substrate like Eco-Complete, Floramax, or Fluorite. All are great for plants, and are quite a bit more on the gravel side than sand. If I were you, I would later 1" of peat moss on bottom, 1" of pool filter sand next, and a top layer of the planted tank substrate. Also, if you don't want to see the layers through the tank glass, wet some of the planted tank substrate and pile it up on the sides, then layer your peat moss and pool filter sand in the middle, and top off with planted tank substrate. That way, not only does your tank look great, but your plants will have great substrate to grow in, and the peat moss will help regulate the pH in your tank.

Remember to wash anything you get for substrate very thoroughly before adding it to the tank, or you'll turn your tank water into soup. Also, if you get peat moss and want to save yourself some effort, soak the peat moss in a bucket of water so it will become waterlogged and sink easier. Much easier to layer in the tank that way.

Most LFS clerks are a lost cause when it comes to DIY projects and any other stuff like pool filter sand, shop lighting, etc. that you might buy from the hardware store or elsewhere. I generally don't even engage them in conversation aside from small talk anymore, I just go into the store for what I need, let my dog bark at the birds, and leave.

Just my thoughts...

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

I have two Lights from Aquatraders, Both are that name brand and both work great. Im planning on buying another. My Father is also buying one for his new tank... I give them a 9 outta 10 on shipping and 10 outta 10 on items. I will buy the rest of my lights from now on from that site. in my opinion spending 300 bucks on a light is dumb.

So I decided to dive into their site a lil more and I narrowed it down. If I don't get shop lights, it will be one of these. I think. What would ya all suggest, which is better?

Odyssea T5 Aquarium Lighting

LED Freshwater Bright

Get the Odyssea, the LED fixture has actinic LEDs in it and you can't replace them. In the T5HO fixture, you can replace the actinic bulb with a 5500k freshwater bulb very easily.

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

Then why the heck would it say for freshwater? The LED one. And this is a new T5 that I looked up, it's got 3x 39W T5 HO lamps 6500K no actinic bulbs... right? or am I still missing something?

your most likely running into the same problem i had with that site. The T5 HO lights all have two identical links side by side one is for freshwater ones for saltwater.. the link you provided at the top is the salt water light... Odyssea T5 Aquarium Lighting im guessing this is the light your looking at...

Don't think that you HAVE to replace the actinic bulb. It may not be all that useful to plants, but it does add some effect to the lighting.
If you go shoplight, which can just sit on top of your lid, get a double one (two builbs), and have one actinic and one 6500 or 5500 white bulb (Unorthodox, but its my preference and my plants grow really well).
Then again, if you go shoplight, it doesn't come with any bulbs, so if you wanna go that route you just pick up a two-pack of whites from Home Depot for like $8

PS: There's no need to worry about the shoplight in your daughters room. Mine sits pretty firmly on the top of the lid...no real chance of falling off unless it's pulled really hard

Also...if he goes with that 117W T5 light he'll need co2, correct?